I waned to love this book as much as other B.A. Paris stories but couldn't. I had a really hard time investing in the characters because I didn't feel like their development made logical sense. People became instant close friends quickly without giving the reader time to invest in the relationship. This then made my interest harder to maintain when things happened to the friends. Additionally, I felt the antagonist of the book was one dimensional and lacked background motivation. I would continue reading books from this author, but this one was a miss for me.

Wow! I couldn’t put this one down, so many twists and surprises. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a page turner thriller.

3.5 stars. The Prisoner had a great premise and I was eagerly looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, it dragged for me, and I thought it was okay, but not really more than okay.

The business of the dark locked room threw me off right from the beginning, and maybe that's why I never got fully invested in this book. Not sure.

B. A. Paris does a good job and I have absolutely loved some of her previous work.

I'd recommend this to fans of the author, those who like dark mysteries (no pun intended), and those looking for a suspenseful read.

Thank you to the authors, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC at my request.

Everyone and their mom has read behind closed doors so I was excited when I got approved for this one.

Amelie lost her parents as a child and is now making it on her own, in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Jed Hawthorne. One day Amelie wakes up and doesn't know where she is.

This book was an interesting premise but ultimately didn't deliver. I really wasn't invested in any of the characters and felt some of the chapters were repetitive. I was left with unanswered questions and felt there were too many plot holes that I just couldn't look over.

I've seen some conflicting reviews for B..A. Paris' The Prisoner, and I'm frankly confused about why. I found it to be compelling and suspenseful. What I found to be an interesting difference from lots of thrillers out there is that, once Amalie is released from her kidnappers, that's not the end, and the remainder of the book is pure fun, escapist fiction. Will The Prisoner change your life? No, probably not, but will you be completely entertained for the few hours that it takes you to read it? Absolutely.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to review!

This book grabs you on the very first page and doesn’t let go. The descriptions were exactly and made me feel I was sitting along side each person. It didn’t drag or go onto too long during any part of the book like some do. It had a great closure, which was almond disappointing as I dint want to let go of the characters.

Behind Closed Doors was my first Paris read and it became one of my favorite reads of that year. None of her other books since have reached that level for me until The Prisoner. I thoroughly enjoyed the premise and storyline. I will admit at one point I was thinking that it was tying up way to neatly and started to get disappointed until I noticed how much was still left in the book. B.A. Paris is an expert with twists and this did not disappoint.

When Amelie loses her father in her teens, she’s heads to London on her own. Taking a kitchen job and living in Hostels to make ends meet, she meets Carolyn. Carolyn hires Amalie to be her housekeeper/cook giving her a place to live and a salary that will help her with her eventual dream of college. As Carolyn becomes more like a sister, Amelie meets her friends, Justine and Lina, who have jobs at the elite magazine Exclusives. When Amelie is in need of a new job, she is offered a position at Exclusives with her friends. Ned Hawthorpe, owner of Exclusives, has his eye on Amelie and invites her on a business trip to Las Vegas. While there he offers her a business venture that she cannot walk away from, but one that just might end up costing her life. All is not what it seems and Amelie soon realizes she’s made a horrible mistake. When Ned and Amelie are kidnapped, no one is interested in getting Ned back. As the days add up, so does the ransom. What is going to happen to Amelie? Will she make it out alive? Will she ever be safe again? With a unique plot told in past and present, once again Paris writes a compelling, easy to read thriller that will captivate her readers.

I love B.A. Paris’ other books, and this is no different. The way she writes Amelie makes you feel like you really know her and are rooting for her happiness. This book had me gripping my seat until the end

B.A. Paris is usually a hit or miss for me. However, I am happy to report loved The Prisoner.

This book is told in two separate timelines, past and present. In the present we meet Amelie who is kidnapped and being held for ransom along with her wealthy husband Ned. We soon learn Ned has nothing but nefarious intentions.

In the "past" timeline we discover more about Amelie and her life and how she comes to meet Ned.

In a nutshell, this a quick fast-paced novel that is truly a page-turner. Great pacing and momentum with quick, short compulsive chapters.

The ending left me hanging a little but, I feel like because Amelie's character is so strong and multi-faceted The Prisoner may not be a stand-alone. I think there will be those readers who really want to see what happens to Amelie next.

I listened and read this book. Narration by Georgia Maguire was excellent and added extra intensity.

*Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for an advanced copy of both the audiobook and e-book in exchange for an honest review.*

I have really enjoyed some of B.A. Paris’ previous novels so I jumped at the chance to read this one.

Amelie has had a tough life. She is orphaned and homeless after her father dies. She seems to have nowhere to turn until a kind stranger gives her an amazing offer and takes her in.

Carolyn, the woman who rescues her, introduces Amelie to her friends and coworkers. There isn’t a lot of depth with the interactions between Carolyn, Amelie, Justine and Lina but we are supposed to believe they are close. Eventually Amelie attends a party with her friends and is introduced to Ned Hawthorne, the boss of the company. Before she knows it, Amelie has a job with Ned and is propositioned for a business marriage. Ned will pay for her to go to college if she marries him and stays married to him for a short period of time.

Soon after the wedding takes place, Amelie finds out Ned is being accused of terrible things. She also starts to feel like a prisoner in her new home.

I don’t want to spoil anything from here, so I will just say that Amelie and Ned are kidnapped and the first part of the book depicts their time held captive interspersed with flashbacks to how their relationship started. I was pretty invested at this point.

But In part two, The Reckoning, I began to lose interest. Everything was too far-fetched. Amelie quickly pivots between depressed shell of a person and bad ass who will get revenge over and over within very short time frames. I thought the part about her father would be a twist at some point but really it was just a too-convenient way to set up the rest of the book. I figured out a big character twist almost immediately. I just found myself rolling my eyes a lot by the end. 2.5 stars

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first time reading a book by B.A Paris and I am hooked! I read some reviews saying this is one of their least favourite books by this author and if thats the case I am going to LOVE her other books!

The beginning of the book was intense and we were trying to figure out what happened and why she was kidnapped. Will she survive? The second half of the book was more storytelling about her life and her life after this huge event happened to her.

I liked how we got to see her life after the event and how she was handling everything, I wish more thrillers had this. Usually it is just intense, intense, twist, done!

I would definitely recommend reading this book!

B.A. Paris is a go to for me. She is Always a quick and satisfying "can't wait to finish to see how it all comes together but don't want it to end either" author for me. The Prisoner nailed it.

Usually, a kidnapping is not something that causes any sort of relief or happiness. For Amelie, though, it might just be her salvation.

B.A. Paris's latest novel, The Prisoner, is a solid read with an interesting premise.

The book opens with Amelie being pulled from her bed and kidnapped. She's terrified, of course...until she hears her husband's indignant yells. Her terror turns to elation as she realizes her husband also being abducted means he isn't the one who orchestrated it. And if he isn't in control, then she has a chance to escape.

Readers jump between Amelie's past and present as we learn how she came to be in this horrifying nightmare. Personally, I would have preferred a bit more about Amelie's past, and less about her life sitting in a pitch-black room, counting the hours until porridge arrives.

Amelie's past is fascinating. After her father dies, she's left as a homeless minor before being scooped up by Caroline, a kind woman who hires her as a live-in housekeeper. This period of homelessness isn't elaborated on, unfortunately, but Amelie's story after the initial hiring is. She bonds with Caroline and her friends, Lina and Justine. Both women work for a billionaire, Ned, with wandering hands and the inability to accept the word "no". Lina is an accountant for his company, and Justine is his assistant. When she is sexually assaulted by him, she disappears, and Amelie is swept off to Vegas by Ned as a replacement "assistant". Poor, young, naïve Amelie, isolated from her friends and the outside world, agrees into a sham marriage with him in exchange for tuition to university. The moment the ring is on her finger, she's a prisoner.

Ned, of course, is a murderous monster, but that's not really the mystery. Readers understand that he's a bad guy from page one, so there's no question there. The real questions are the same ones that Amelie has: Who kidnapped Ned and herself, and why?

I've read a few other books by Paris, and I enjoyed them to a point. As stated above, these books are solid, if slightly lacking in detail. My biggest critique is that some of the more interesting events take place in the past, and tend to be summarized rather than fully fleshed out. Still, if you'd like to read a thriller with a hint of mystery, then I recommend it.

Final rating: ⭐⭐⭐

When orphaned as a young teen, Amelie has learned to do whatever it takes to make it. Journeying to London alone at 16, she finds Caroline who is recently single and they form a quick bond as they help each other in different ways. In a quick turn, Amelie wakes up in a pitch black room with no memory or what happened or how she got there. As the story bounces from the past to the present, we discover what led to this capture and the choices she's made that could affect whether she's able to escape or not.

There's a reason B.A. is one of my favorite authors and this book was so hard to put down. It was
extremely fast paced and well written. I would have been thrilled with a few more chapters at the end or an epilogue.

I had been seeking a book as gripping as Behind Closed Doors since I read it last year, and when I saw BA Paris had a new book coming out, I hopped on it. The Prisoner is also a fast paced page turner, and there were some similarities to Behind Closed Doors. By about 75% into the story it started to drag a little, but it still was an easy good thriller.

3.5 stars.

Thanks Netgalley + St Martins Press for my ARC copy. This book will be available on 11/1/22.

Thank you NG for this ARC

This book is a wild ride. I really felt bad for Amelie. Everyone in her life kept dying! She witnessed some hard stuff and went through major trauma. No wonder she's so messed up. All that being said, this book is super fast paced. I finished in less than a day. It slows down about 3/4 of the way through while Amelie is dealing with the fallout of everything. I didn't mind it because it felt like it mirrored the pace of what was happening in the book.

This book kept me guessing the whole way and was super messed up. Needless to say, I loved it. B. A. Paris really knows how to write a suspense thriller. Shoot.

Are you afraid of the dark? Are you afraid of being alone in a dark room?B.A. Paris puts someone there in The Prisoner.

"Amelie is taken from her bedroom in the night and wakes up alone in a completely dark room. Where is she? Who kidnapped her and why? Where is her husband? Why does she suddenly feel safer?"

Like many current thrillers there are dual timelines. We get Amelie's story before she was locked up and what's going on while she is locked in the dark room. She is the definition of the unreliable narrator. Her life circumstances led to much of that but her decision making is not the best.

Her billionaire husband, Jed, is a character everyone will love to hate. Several characters will make you question the grey areas of how far is too far.

If you enjoy B.A. Paris books, you should like this one.

This book was okay, there was suspense and it was unpredictable at times. However, I felt that it dragged on a bit and it was just too unrealistic.

What an awesome book! I love BA Paris and this one didn't disappoint. Fast-paced and unpredictable, this was everything I look for in a thriller and more!